It shouldn’t surprise you that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s new “help small businesses” plan won’t do much for what most folks think “small business” means.
More than half of his list of “50 regulatory reforms that will transform how government works with small businesses” are aimed at helping street food vendors.
And much of the rest is small-ball: Let barbers renew their permits every three years instead of every year; create one poster about food allergies instead of the separate city and state posters that restaurants now must post.
Or outright vapor: Vows to “reinforce excellence in customer service” and to distribute the “Business Owner Bill of Rights” more widely.
The real action is all about a tiny sector that produces almost no tax revenue but competes directly with brick-and-mortar restaurants that have real employees and pay taxes.
They pour grease down sewer drains, run gas-powered generators all day and burn charcoal in the open air.
As the city now prepares to expand the total number of food vendors, Mamdani wants to amnesty illegal food vendors who have amassed substantial fines to give them permits without making them pay their accrued debts.
And to relieve street vendors of the challenges of hygiene: He’ll work to eliminate permits for soft-serve-ice-cream-machine operators (though these machines are notorious hosts for listeria and other bacteria).
The mayor and his peeps love their food carts; his campaign scored countless hits with a call to end “halaliflation” — the rising cost of a plate of chicken and rice from a “halal cart.”
Fair enough to try to deliver on that promise, but don’t pretend it’s a serious pro-small-business agenda.
This story originally appeared on NYPost
